


No One Bullies The Pink One

by AutisticAnxietyDragon



Series: A Dancing Queen+A Sports Elf+A Grumpy Fae=Family [1]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Broken Bones, Bullying, Family, Head Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Robbie's disguises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24930025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticAnxietyDragon/pseuds/AutisticAnxietyDragon
Summary: With LazyTown's population growing a new kid starts at the shcool and joins Stephanie's class. But although everyone else seems to like her for some reason the new girl does not like Stephanie. What will happen when Robbie and Sportacus realize that Stephanie is being bullied?
Series: A Dancing Queen+A Sports Elf+A Grumpy Fae=Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804216
Kudos: 49





	1. The New Kid

Stephanie smiled as she walked towards the school building with her friends and other students, in the year that Stephanie had lived in LazyTown the populace had began to grow with old families returning with word of the new hero and some new families as well. Stephanie and the other children had quickly made friends with two pre-teens who had lived in LazyTown years ago as young children and both had recently moved back into the area. Jives Junkfood reminded Stephanie a lot of Ziggy but with a more laid back attitude that reminded her of Robbie. Penny was a little like the opposite of Stingy, in the meaning that she couldn’t stop giving money away where as Stingy liked to keep it for as long as he could.

Jives was tall and lanky, even taller then Stephanie was, and he always wore the same yellow cropped hoodie with ¼ length sleeves with a long sleeve black tee under it and the same pair of green low rise jeans and green beanie on his head. Where as Penny always wore the same red overalls with a red and white checkered shirt with blue fluff around the bottom of the capped sleeves.

Stephanie shook her head to refocus herself and she smiled as she rushed to join her friends in the school playground, all of them were wore their own version of the school uniform. Stephanie wore a pink blazer with the LazyTown school badge on her left breast pocket, Stingy wore a yellow version of the blazer, Ziggy wore a blue version and Penny wore a red one. Pixel wore a gray cardigan with blue piping on it with the school badge on his left breast and Trixie wore and red and white varsity jacket with the school badge on the left breast, Jives wore something similar except his was yellow with green sleeves. “Hi guys,” Stephanie smiled.

“Hi Stephanie,” Ziggy beamed and Stephanie pulled the boy into her arms for a hug which he gladly returned.

“So what do you think we’re going to do at school today?” Stephanie asked in excitement, even though the student population had grown some they had only really gained about ten other students and they were split into two classes but not in grades. Stephanie, Ziggy, Stingy, Trixie, Pixel, Jives and Penny were all in one class while the other eight students were in the other class which suited them all.

“I hope we do science today,” Stingy replied and everyone nodded in agreement, they did love their science lessons and looked forward to them greatly.

“I hope we have math,” Stephanie said in a wishful tone, she loved math and it was her best subject other then dance and music. Trixie rolled her eyes and shoved Stephanie slightly which Stephanie giggled at and in turn shoved Trixie gently back. The bell then rang to inform the students that class was about to begin. “Come on guys lets go!” Stephanie grinned and leaped up from her seat and stood with her hands on her hips which reminded everyone of Sportacus.

The group gathered up their books and ran towards their classroom happily taking their seats, but it did not go unnoticed that there was a new desk in the room but before they could question it the door opened to allow Mayor Meanswell (and principle of the school) to enter. The children all stood with their hands held behind their backs in a sign of respect.

“Good morning children,” he smiled.

“Good morning Mayor Meanswell,” the children all chimed back as they smiled at their beloved Mayor, and Stephanie’s favorite uncle.

“We have a new student just moved to LazyTown. Now my dear why don’t you introduce yourself?” the Mayor asked as he turned towards the girl who looked about twelve years old, making her one of the oldest children in this class. She had short black hair cut into a pixie style with a single bright pink strand that ran through it. She had dark makeup around her eyes and pink lip gloss which accentuated the paleness of her skin. She was wore black denim skinny jeans with rips in the legs and a black hoodie with large black biker boots decorated in chains. Stephanie thought she looked rather terrifying, but she was never to judge a book by it’s cover and smiled politely at the girl.

“My names Lilith Liarson. I moved here from MayhemTown, don’t know for how long as my parents move around a lot,” the girl said with a sneer.

“Yes well. Please take your seat Lilith, Miss Busybody will be along soon. Learn well children,” the Mayor said and walked out of the room as Miss Busybody walked in and took her seat at the teachers desk.

“Good morning children. Let us take registration and then we may begin with the day,” Miss Busybody smiled and the children nodded their heads, although many of them hated their actual names they knew that it was for their safety that their real names were on registration. “Philip Hyperbyte?” Miss Busybody asked.

“Good morning Miss Busybody,” Pixel replied and Miss Busybody ticked off the name.

“Jivan Junkfood?” Miss Busybody called and received no reply. Stephanie looked behind her where Jives usually sat to find he was asleep at his desk again. She reached over and shook his arm which startled him awake.

“Hugh? What?” he asked around a yawn.

“Mr Junkfood are you in attendance?” Miss Busybody asked sternly.

“Oh yes! Sorry Miss Busybody,” Jives replied with a grin and Miss Busybody sighed as she ticked beside Jives’s name.

“You will do well to get a better night sleep Mr Junkfood,” Miss Busybody lectured which Trixie rolled her eyes at, this was a regular occurrence and they all knew that Jives wouldn’t change, even with Sportacus’s influence Jives defiantly took more after Robbie.

“Yes Miss Busybody,” Jives replied before he once again laid his head on his desk and drifted off to sleep.

“Lilith Liarson?” Miss Busybody called.

“Here,” Lilith replied with an eye roll and Miss Busybody ticked her off with a slight frown, but she would let it slide for now as it was the girls first day.

“Pernelia Pestella?” Miss Busybody called.

“Here Miss Busybody!” Penny called from the back of the classroom in her loud voice that everyone was used to by this time, she was sometimes louder then even Trixie was.

“Miss Pestella, indoor voice please,” Miss Busybody tskd and Penny grinned back – if slightly sheepishly – this was also a regular occurrence and everyone was used to it by this time.

“Stephanie Splitz-Meanswell?” Miss Busybody asked.

“Here Miss Busybody,” Stephanie replied with a raised hand and a smile on her face, which fell when she heard the whispered ‘nerd’ from behind her.

“Oh yes. Very good Stephanie,” Miss Busybody smiled and ticked off next to Stephanie’s name. “Sebastian Spoilero?” she then called.

“Present,” Stingy replied haughtily and Miss Busybody ticked off beside his name, with a slight roll of the eyes but she did not comment on the tone Stingy used as even she knew that was the closest she was going to get to Stingy being polite, and the argument that would follow was not worth the hassle.

“Beatrix Troubleby?” Miss Busybody asked through a sigh as she looked up at Trixie with tired eyes.

“Here Miss Busybody,” Trixie replied with an innocent smile, one that nobody bought for a minute but chose not to comment on it less it encourage Trixie to misbehave, like it had previous times thanks to Ziggy’s uncanny ability to comment on everything he saw.

“Zigimund Zweets?” Miss Busybody called as she came to the last name on her registration form.

“Here Miss Busybody! What are we going to learn today hugh? Is it going to be cool and exciting! Hugh?” Ziggy asked as he bounced in his seat with his enthusiasm.

“Ziggy calm down, this is a classroom not the Sports field,” Miss Busybody cried and Ziggy sat still at once.

“Sorry,” he said contritely.

“That is OK Ziggy. It is good that you are excited to learn but please keep it low key,” Miss Busybody said and Ziggy nodded his head. “Now, as we have a new student today what I would like for you all to do is write about your family and what you enjoy doing so that we can all get to know each other. Then after recess we will all read them out to the class,” Miss Busybody instructed and everyone cheered and scrabbled to grab everything they needed for the assignment. “You may do this in anyway you choose. It could be a poster, a story or a presentation it is entirely up to you,” Miss Busybody added before she took her seat once more to observe the children as they talked to each other excitedly about what they would write on their assignment. Most of them decided on the poster as it was the easiest way to showcase everything. While Pixel chose a presentation and Penny chose to write a story.

Stephanie was working hard on her poster when a note landed on her desk, she stared at it for a moment before she looked up to check that Miss Busybody wasn’t watching – she wasn’t, she had her attention on marking some of the math tests from yesterday – and opened the note.

_Why even bother making one? We all know it’s going to be empty. Why waste our time?_

The note hadn’t been signed and Stephanie felt tears well into her eyes at the horrible words that had been written so she screwed the paper up and stuffed it deep into her bag before she returned to her poster and tried to forget what she had read.

The bell rang Miss Busybody sent the children to play outside for recess. Stephanie was one of the last to leave and she was shoved aside as she made to go out the door and she found herself staring at the back of Lilith. Stephanie’s brows crunched in confusion, she couldn’t understand why Lilith had shoved her out of the way but she shrugged it off and carried on her way outside.

When she found herself outside she made her way over to her friends who were all crowded around Lilith as she showed off her mobile phone to them and showed them all some funny videos that she had found online. When Stephanie approached Lilith looked up and sneered at her before she pocketed her phone and spoke to the group. “Hay I have a great idea. Lets play freeze tag,” Lilith said.

“Freeze tag? what’s that?” Ziggy asked as he tilted his head to the side.

“It’s like normal tag. But when you get tagged you have to stand with your legs and arms apart and you can’t move until someone crawls between your legs,” Lilith explained and the kids agreed they would play the game.

  
“But who’s gonna be it hugh?” Ziggy asked bouncing around in excitement at the thought of a new game.

“Hmm. . . I think Pinkie should go first,” Lilith said and before anyone could protest she ran off and the other kids followed. Stephanie ran around after her friends and tagged them when she could and laughed the whole time, but when she went to tag Lilith the girl whirled around and stuck out a leg which made Stephanie trip and fall to the floor, the nine year old scraped her hands and knee on the floor. “Look where your going Pinki,” Lilith sneered as she made it seem as if Stephanie had ran into her.

Stephanie held her leg to her chest as the tears fell down her cheeks, her leggings had a rip in them which revealed a slightly bloody gash in her knee and the palms of her hands also had cuts that bled as well. A shadow fell over Stephanie before she could get up and she heard the familiar sound of a Crystal beeping which made her look up in Sportacus’s concerned face. “Stephanie? Are you OK?” he asked as he squatted down to look at Stephanie’s knee and hands.

“Y-y-yeah I’m fine Sportacus. I tripped,” Stephanie replied as she turned her face away, she couldn’t look at Sportacus when she lied and she hated lieing to him.

“Well we had better get these cleaned up. Come on lets go and find the first aid kit,” Sportacus replied and bent down to help Stephanie stand up before he lifted her up onto his back so she didn’t have to put much pressure on her leg.

Stephanie was quite the whole time Sportacus cleaned her cuts and covered the one on her knee with a pink band-aid, which normally would have made her smile but today it didn’t and Sportacus swiftly became concerned. “Stephanie? Are you OK? Your being very quite,” Sportacus asked, concern laced his tone.

“I’m OK,” Stephanie replied again but she did not look at Sportacus, which made Sportacus even more concerned but before he could press any further the school bell rang and Sportacus’s Crystal began to flash.

“I have to go. The kitten’s stuck in the tree again. I’ll talk to you later Stephanie,” Sportacus said before he dabbed in his usual way and back flipped from the school leaving Stephanie alone once more. The girl sniffed and wiped her face once more before she stood up and made her way back towards her classroom.

The assignment's had so far gone smoothly and everyone had read theirs by now except for Stephanie who slowly made her way to the front of the classroom with a small limp that no one commented on, but she could see the concerned faces of her friends and the smirk on Lilith’s face at the sight. “Erm. I decided to make a poster for my assignment,” Stephanie stuttered out as she placed the bright pink poster onto the podium for everyone to see. “My name is Stephanie and I’m nine years old. My mom is Marnie Meanswell, now Splitz and my dad is Samuel Splitz. I live in LazyTown with my uncle Milford Meanswell. I love to dance and play sports. My favorite sport is Soccer and I love to be the goalie. I like to make up songs and sing them with my friends, my favorite song is Bing Bang. When I’m older I want to be either a dancer or a gymnast and use it to help people just like Sportacus does,” Stephanie explained as she pointed out different drawings and other things on her poster.

“Oh brilliant Stephanie. Now does anyone have any questions for Stephanie?” Miss Busybody asked and the only one who put up their hand was Lilith, as everyone else knew all about the information that Stephanie had put onto her poster.

“Yes Miss Liarson?” Miss Busybody asked.

“So why did you parents dump you on your Uncle?” Lilith asked and Stephanie froze up while the other children gasped. “What? It was just a question! What did they not want her or something?” Lilith asked as everyone turned to face her with shocked faces while Stephanie burst into tears and ran from the room, she ignored the shouts of her friends and Miss Busybody as she did so.

Stephanie found herself at the edge of LazyTown outside the billboard and she collapsed down onto the floor the tears falling down her face thick and fast and she couldn’t stop the heart wrenching sobs which come from deep within her chest. She sat with her back to the billboard and pulled her knees up to her chest before she crossed her arms over her knees and lay her head in them. Her sobs were so loud that she didn’t hear the door open nor did she see Robbie stop beside her. “Pink girl? What are you doing?” Robbie asked which made Stephanie jump as she turned her tear stained face towards him, the tears still falling down her cheeks and Robbie paused as he hadn’t expected this and he felt his chest tighten.

“O-o-oh Robbie. It’s you,” Stephanie choked as she tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks and control her breathing.

“Yes it’s me. You are outside my home after all,” Robbie replied as he gestured to the billboard behind him as if the emphasis his words.

“Oh,” Stephanie replied in shock, she hadn’t realized she had run this far, but the thought of going back made the tears well again and the sobs caught in her throat. Robbie frowned and squatted down so he could look Stephanie in the eye.

“Stephanie? What’s wrong?” he asked, the two had grown close over the past year when it was clear how much the kids enjoyed Robbie’s company he had started to spend more time with them, he still made his schemes but they were more to entertain the children now rather then to kick Sportacus out of town.

“Th-th-there’s a new g-g-girl at school. A-a-and sh-sh-she. . .” Stephanie couldn’t finish her sentence as the sobs over took her and Robbie frowned as he sat beside Stephanie and pulled her into his arms as he rocked her. Something was wrong, but he didn’t know what and he didn’t know what to do.

“Come on kiddo let’s go down into the lair and have some hot chocolate hmm?” Robbie asked and Stephanie sniffled before she nodded, the tears had dried up but Robbie had a feeling it was because she had no more of them to give rather then her actually feeling better.

An hour later Robbie had a sleeping Stephanie curled up in his orange recliner covered with the matching orange blanket. Robbie observed the child as she slept, her eyes swollen from crying and her cheeks had dried tear tracks on them there was even a frown on her face as she slept which concerned Robbie greatly. But before he could think any more into it he heard some bang on the entrance of his home. He moved quickly over to his periscope and see who it was before they woke up Stephanie. “What? Who is it?” he asked as he tried to keep his voice down whilst he tried to also sound annoyed.

“Robbie? Robbie! You have to help! Stephanie is missing, she ran out of school after an incident and no one find her,” came the panicked voice of Sportacus and Robbie sighed his body sagged slightly.

“Calm down Sportaflop, she’s right here,” Robbie replied which cut Sportacus short of what he was saying, something about a new kid and Stephanie’s parents.

“She’s with you?” Sportacus asked.

“Yes and she’s asleep so keep your noise down will you?” Robbie hissed into the periscope.

“Is she OK?” Sportacus asked.

“Physically, apart from a few cuts, she’s fine. Emotionally however, no she isn’t. I couldn’t get out of her what happened as she cried each time she tried to tell me,” Robbie replied.

“I know what happened. Or at least most of what happened. Can I come down?” Sportacus asked.

“If you’re quite,” Robbie grumbled in response as he unlocked the silo. Sportacus slid out of the tube and landed on his feet just centimeters from the recliner where Stephanie slept. “Whoa careful you clumsy elf!” Robbie hissed as Stephanie mumbled in her sleep before she curled up more in the seat.

“Sorry,” Sportacus whispered as he knelt on the rug in-front of the recliner and ran his hand through Stephanie’s hair and watched as the girl seemed to relax and a small smile appeared on her face. “Oh Stephanie, what happened?” Sportacus asked with a sigh.

“What did Bessie say?” Robbie asked as he approached the fridge and threw Sportacus an apple from inside of it before he grabbed himself a slice of apple pie that Stephanie had made him the other day, it was the only way Robbie would eat Sportscandy willingly.

“Well a new girl started today. Lilith Liarson I think. Anyway Bessy thought it would be a good idea to get the kids to make a poster or story about them so that Lilith could get to know them and when it was Stephanie’s turn Lilith asked her about her parents,” Sportacus explained and Robbie gasped, everyone knew what a touchy subject that was and never brought it up. New people were informed about the situation almost as soon as they arrived so they knew not to bring it up, but either this knew kid had ignored this or hadn’t been told. “That’s not the worst part of it, the girl then asked if Stephanie if her parents didn’t want her,” Sportacus finished.

“That brat!” Robbie hissed a dark glare overtook his face. “Where did the cuts come from?” Robbie then asked as he remembered the injuries he had spotted on Stephanie when she had fallen asleep.

“I don’t know. I arrived at the school when my Crystal indicated I was needed and when I got there Stephanie was on the floor. I asked her what happened and she said she had tripped,” Sportacus replied and Robbie hummed in thought.

“Do you really think she tripped?” Robbie asked and Sportacus looked off to the side which gave Robbie the answer without Sportacus even needing to say anything.

“We can’t prove anything though,” Sportacus pointed out.

“Then we just need to get proof,” Robbie replied and Sportacus looked at him in confusion and Robbie rolled his eyes. “They have gym tomorrow, which you teach and I am the Master of Disguise,” Robbie explained and Sportacus’s face lit up with a smile at the thought of it. “We can work together to keep an eye on Stephanie at school tomorrow and see whats happening,” he added and Sportacus nodded his agreement and with that a plan was hatched.


	2. Soccer Disaster

Sportacus had carried Stephanie home that night along with Robbie and the two sat down with the Mayor and Miss Busybody to explain their plan for the following day. “Are you sure Stephanie is being bullied?” The Mayor asked, he was a nice man but sometimes rather naive.

“No we aren’t sure but it seems like a horrible coincidence that Stephanie would ‘fall over’ when she is probably more sure footed then even Sportacus. We just want to rule it out,” Robbie replied and the Mayor sighed before he nodded in agreement to the terms that Robbie had laid out. With that everyone bid goodnight and Robbie returned home to start on his disguise.

Stephanie yawned as she woke and hissed when she felt a sting in her knee as she sat up and her face fell when she remembered everything that had happened the day before and she felt tears well in her eyes again before she shook her head, she refused to cry again and she just hoped that today would be better then the day before. The girl took a deep breath before she flung back her pink comforter and made her way to the bathroom to shower before she got dressed for the day in her usual pink dress and leggings. When she arrived downstairs her uncle had already left for the day leaving Stephanie a note saying that he had to show around a new teacher today but that there was oatmeal in the microwave for her to heat up. Stephanie sighed, she tried not to be disappointed as she knew her uncle was busy but she wished that just once he wasn’t the Mayor of LazyTown and could be home with her so she could spend some time with him.

Stephanie shook the thought from her head and berated herself for being selfish as she warmed up her oatmeal and ate it half-heartedly. Once the bowl was empty she headed out towards the school building and when she arrived she found all of her friends dancing with Lilith in the playground and she hurried inside to prevent herself being seen, but she couldn’t help but feel a little heart broken that her friends hadn’t waited for her and they were dancing with Lilith instead. The nine year old walked to her classroom with her head down and sat behind her normal desk at the front of the room, she then heard a throat being cleared and her head shot up, her eyes widened at the sight in-front of her. There sat a young gentleman with blonde curly hair and gray eyes with a slight bit of dark stubble on his chin, upper lip and cheeks. He was wearing a pair of black glasses and a gray tweed three piece suit, he looked familiar to Stephanie but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “Good morning. Why are you not outside playing before lesson?” the man asked and Stephanie realized that he must be the new teacher her uncle had left the note about.

“Oh. . . I had a headache so just wanted to sit in the classroom until class started,” Stephanie replied as she avoided looking the teacher in the eye. “Sorry Mr. . .”

“Glæpur. Professor Glanni Glæpur,” the teacher replied and Stephanie scrunched her nose, that name seemed familiar to her but she wasn’t sure why.

“Professor Glæpur, that is a strange name sir if you don’t mind me saying so,” Stephanie said in confusion, but also curiosity.

“It’s Icelandic,” the teacher replied and Stephanie nodded her head, maybe that was why it ran a bell as Sportacus had been trying to teach Stephanie some of his home language. Stephanie was stopped from saying anything more by the ringing of the bell and the other students began to file in, not one of them acknowledge Stephanie, that is except for Ziggy who practically threw himself at Stephanie in order to give her a hug.

“Stephanie! Are you OK? We couldn’t find you yesterday!” Ziggy cried and he hugged his friend tight.

“I’m OK Ziggy,” Stephanie replied and hugged her friend back just as tightly before Ziggy took his seat in the desk beside Stephanie as he always had.

“Good morning students,” Professor Glæpur said as he stood up which drew everyone's attention to the front of the room. “I am your new teacher Professor Glæpur.”

It was nearing lunch time and Robbie had not liked what he had seen so far. During math Lilith had thrown paper at the back of Stephanie’s head and in the end he had no choice but to the move the girl to the front, unfortunately this moved her only a desk over from Stephanie.

Then during science the children had paired up leaving Stephanie alone with Lilith. Lilith had just sat there and watched Stephanie struggle with the assignment and Robbie had told Stephanie that she had done a good job Lilith had tried to make it out that she had done all of the work by herself. During recess Stephanie had chosen to stay indoors and read, which broke Robbie’s heart he hated to see Stephanie so down. Then during History Lilith had sat behind Stephanie and had kicked her chair multiple times until Robbie moved Stephanie over to work at his desk, which he realized was probably the wrong thing to do as it almost made Stephanie cry as she believed she was in trouble.

Finally it was lunch time, this time Stephanie chose to go outside and Robbie watched from the window as Stephanie was cornered by Lilith and threatened until Stephanie handed over her lunch money in tears. Robbie was fuming and had opened the window to call Stephanie in as he needed to ask her a question, the girl looked terrified and Robbie knew he couldn’t keep the ruse up for long. “You wanted to see me Professor?” Stephanie asked in a whisper as she stood in-front of him, she seemed so small and timid which was not how Stephanie was supposed to be.

“Come and sit down Stephanie. Would you like a sandwich?” Robbie asked as he offered Stephanie a chicken salad sandwich (sans lettuce as she hated the stuff). Stephanie looked up at Robbie wide eyed before she accepted the sandwich along with a carton of milk, some banana chips, an apple and a strawberry yogurt cup. All of which Robbie knew were Stephanie’s favorite.

“Thank you Professor. But how did you know these are all my favorites?” she asked before she squinted her eyes at him and then realization flooded her features. “Robbie Rotten!” she cried before a smile began to spread across her face.

“Hay kid,” Robbie smiled, dropping the slightly thicker accent he had put on for his character and Stephanie frowned at him.

“What are you doing here Robbie?” she asked and Robbie sighed as he scratched the back of his neck.

“I can’t tell you. Not yet, but Sportacus and I are looking after you tonight so we will explain all then. Until then can you keep quite that you know it’s me?” Robbie asked.

“Sure Robbie,” Stephanie responded, although she was obviously confused by the fact that Robbie was posing as a teacher again, and not attempting to get them to sleep all day. The two ate their lunch in companionable silence and when the bell rang Stephanie reluctantly returned to her seat.

“Welcome back class. I hope you enjoyed lunch. Now our next lesson is Art. What I would like you to do is create an invention, it can be anything you like and can be used for whatever you wish. I want you to draw your invention and then next lesson we are going to try and create our inventions so try and make it as detailed as you can,” Robbie explained and the kids began to get excited over the prospect of this and Stephanie couldn’t help but let a small smile spread across her face, know she knew that Professor Glæpur was Robbie it made her feel more safe.

Nothing happened at all during the Art lesson as Lilith seemed engaged in what she was drawing so she left Stephanie alone, but now it was time for gym so Robbie lead the children to the locker rooms. Miss Busybody lead the girls into the girls locker room and Robbie waited with the boys while they changed, although he kept his back turned. Once the children were all changed into their gym gear Robbie rejoined with the girls and he led the children outside to the sports field where Sportacus was waiting for them doing handstand push-ups, which he back-flipped out off when he spotted them coming. “Hi kids!” Sportacus said with a grin as he placed his fists onto his hips.

“Hi Sportacus,” the children replied, most with enthusiasm.

“Now today we are going to be doing some soccer today!” Sportacus announced with a grin as Robbie inwardly groaned before he took a seat on a bench nearby and took out some of the assignments to mark them. “So I need team captains! How about Trixie and. . . I’m sorry I don’t know your name,” Sportacus said as he pointed to Lilith.

“Lilith Liarson,” Lilith replied as she stared at Sportacus with her mouth slightly open and wide eyed.

“Well come on up. Let’s pick teams!” Sportacus said with a smile. Soon teams had been picked it was Trixie, Stephanie, Stingy and Penny against Lilith, Jives, Ziggy and Pixel (Lilith had not been happy to end up with Jives and Ziggy but she didn’t say anything). The game was going well with Sportacus in goal the game was 1-4 to Trixie’s team. Lilith was getting frustrated that her team was loosing and had already been told about shouting at her team mates. It was then that she realized Stephanie had the ball and was heading her way, a sinister grin spread over her face and she charged at Stephanie and acted like she was going to tackle the girl but instead grabbed the back of her shirt and used the momentum of her turn to fling Stephanie to the floor. Stephanie landed on the ground and a scream echoed through the sports field making everyone except Lilith freeze, she was to busy heading towards the goal she kicked the ball and scored. She threw her hands up and cheered but she soon realized no one was cheering with her and she twisted around to find Sportacus and Professor Glæpur talking rapidly to Stephanie who was still on the ground clutching her arm closely to her chest. Lilith was fuming.

Lilith was more then fuming as she sat in the small wooden chair inside the principles office as Mayor Meanswell spoke to her parents. Turns out Stephanie had broken her wrist when she landed on the floor, it wasn’t Lilith’s fault that she got in her way! Now Lilith had three weeks detention and she was grounded. Lilith felt like it was an unjust punishment as the other student was the Mayor’s niece but her complaints fell on deaf ears as she was hauled home by her parents.

As she sat in her room that night she formulated a plan to get back at the pink one for getting her in detention.


	3. Broken Bone

Stephanie tried to control her tears as she sat between Sportacus and Robbie (who was no longer in disguise) at the Emergency room in FunTown, the next town over. She was waiting for the x-ray results on her arm, but everyone could see it was broken from the strange angle that the wrist was and Stephanie had sobbed when she realized this had meant no sports until the bone healed. “Stephanie Splitz-Meanswell?” came the call of her name and she looked up before she slowly stood and Sportacus placed his arm around her shoulders as they walked forward, Robbie right behind them. “You are?” the Doctor asked as he eyed the two men.

“I’m Sportacus, Stephanie’s guardian when the Mayor is unable to be with her. This is Robbie, he’s here for moral support,” Sportacus replied easily.

“Well I’m sorry sir but you will have to wait outside,” the Doctor replied as he looked over at Robbie who’s shoulders inched up to his ears and a look of thunder clouded her face.

“No please! Don’t send him away! Please,” Stephanie begged as her breathing began to pick up again and fresh tears began to flow from her eyes in clear distress.

“I’m sorry but it’s against Hospital policy,” the Doctor replied and Stephanie was full on sobbing at this point her good arm gripping Robbie’s pants in a vice grip. She was almost hyperventilating at this point both from the pain and emotions of the day, it was getting to much for her.

“What is going on here?” came another voice, which turned out to be another doctor.

“This man is trying to enter the room with no relation to the patient,” the original Doctor explained.

“Well let the man in,” The second Doctor replied.

“But. . .”

“The situation is stressing the child out, if we do not calm her soon she is going to hyperventilate. She obviously feels safe with both men and we are under an oath to protect patients at all cost and this sometimes means bending the rules,” the second Doctor replied before he took the chart from the original Doctors hands and sent him on his way. “Now then Stephanie, do you want both of these gentlemen in the room with you?” the Doctor asked as he knelt down to be level with Stephanie who was already beginning to calm down, but not enough to speak so she just nodded her head so fast that Sportacus worried she would make herself dizzy. “Then that is fine. Would you like to come and sit up on the bed for me and we’ll take a look at your x-ray?” the Doctor asked kindly and Stephanie nodded and allowed Sportacus to lift her onto the bed and Robbie sat with her while Sportacus stood beside the bed with his arms crossed over his chest his usual stance when he was nervous about something but knew he couldn’t really move around a lot. “OK Stephanie. My name is Doctor Feelsgood, lets have a look at this arm,” Doctor Feelsgood smiled and placed the x-ray up on the screen and everyone could see the brake. “Well it’s a clean brake which is good. We don’t even need to move the bones at all so all we need is a cast and then you’re good to go. But first we need to give you some pain relief while we cast you up so what I want you to do is breath this in every time it hurts OK?” Doctor Feelsgood said as he passed Stephanie the paint relief tube that they used on women when they gave birth and for other painful procedures. “It might make you feel a little funny but I want you to keep breathing it in OK?” Doctor Feelsgood said and Stephanie nodded as she laid down on the bed with Robbie stood at the bottom of the bed out of the way and Sportacus stood at the head of the bed running his hand through Stephanie’s hair.

“It’s going to be OK Stephanie,” Sportacus soothed and Stephanie nodded through the tears in her eyes as she sucked on the laughing gas which was making her head feel like it was full of cotton wool, but she didn’t stop breathing it in. “What color cast are you going to get?” Sportacus asked as he tried to distract Stephanie as the nurse and Doctor Feelsgood began the task of casting up Stephanie’s arm.

“P-p-pink,” Stephanie stuttered as she cried out in pain before breathing in the laughing gas once more.

“I suppose I should have known that. You’re doing so well Stephanie, I’m so proud of you. When we get out of here we’ll get you a treat for being so brave. Would you like that?” Sportacus asked and Stephanie nodded her head as she tried to fight the tears.

“What do you wanna do this weekend kid?” Robbie asked which directed Stephanie’s attention to him and she seemed to think for a moment breathing in the gas as she did so to prevent the sharp pains in her wrist becoming overwhelming.

“Can we h-h-have a camp out?” she whimpered in response and Robbie smiled a little before he rolled his eyes.

“Sure why not. We could tell stories and have s’mors,” Robbie replied and Stephanie smiled.

“We need to make sure Ziggy has a night light,” she added and Robbie nodded his head in agreement to that which made Stephanie smile. For the next few minutes the three discussed what they would do on their camp out and eventually Doctor Feelsgood announced he was finished and Stephanie glanced down at her arm to find the cast ended just below her elbow and just below her fingers, the cast was bright pink of course and her wrist was bent slightly to allow for better healing. “Thank you,” Stephanie whispered.

“No problem Stephanie. Now how would you like a sticker before you go?” Doctor Feelsgood asked and Stephanie let a watery smile flit across her face.

“Yes please,” she whispered and Doctor Feelsgood grabbed a sticker book from the nearby cubby hole and let Stephanie pick one out. The girl chose a ballerina and Doctor Feelsgood stuck it to the girls dress before he showed Robbie and Sportacus how to help Stephanie with her sling. Once both had mastered it they were sent on their way.

Evening was beginning to descend so Sportacus suggested they get Stephanie’s treat before they headed back to the airship and headed home. “What would you like Stephanie? Anything you like and you can have it,” Sportacus asked as he knelt beside the girl who shrugged her shoulders until her gaze landed on a nearby toy store.

“Could we have a look there?” Stephanie asked quietly.

“Of course we can,” Sportacus smiled and took Stephanie’s hand in his while Robbie placed a hand on the opposite shoulder and the three made their way over to the toy store. The three perused the isle’s until Stephanie suddenly stopped causing both men to stop as well and look at what she was staring at. Sitting on a nearby shelf was a light brown teddy bear – roughly the same size as Ziggy’s Teddycus – wearing a ballerina outfit. “Is that what you want?” Sportacus asked as he squatted down to be eye-level with Stephanie who frowned and shook her head.

“I’m to old for Teddy’s,” she whispered.

“Who says?” Sportacus asked and Stephanie looked at him in confusion.

“Robbie sometimes still sleeps with a teddy bear,” Sportacus said in a whisper and Stephanie looked at Robbie for confirmation which he gave as a disgruntled nod which made Stephanie smile.

“OK Sportacus, yes I would like the bear please,” Stephanie replied and Sportacus grinned before he grabbed the bear and the three went to pay for it. Stephanie tucked the bear into her sling and cuddled it to her chest as she retook Sportacus’s hand in her once more.

By the time Sportacus, Robbie and Stephanie had returned to LazyTown it was nearing seven thirty in the evening and Stephanie was fast asleep on Sportacus’s bed, Robbie had removed her sling and propped her arm up with some spare pillows. Her bear tucked under her other arm. “I’m going to tell the Mayor that she’s sleeping here tonight, I don’t want to wake her and I wont be able to carry her down the ladder like that,” Sportacus whispered to Robbie and Robbie nodded his head as he gazed at Stephanie’s sleeping face for a little while longer before he turned to Sportacus and the two slowly made their way down the ladder of the airship to tell the Mayor what had happened at the hospital and to report what they had seen that day at the school.


	4. The Attack

Stephanie woke and cried out in pain when she moved her arm, the memories of the previous day flooded back to her and she pushed herself into a sitting position crying softly at the pain in her arm. “Stephanie! Are you OK?” came the panicked voice of Sportacus as he skidded into the room in nothing but a towel around his waist and dripping wet.

“M-m-my arm h-h-hurts,” Stephanie whimpered and Sportacus winced in sympathy as he grabbed the painkillers that the Doctor had given them the day before and then grabbed a glass of water so that Stephanie could take the tablets and hopefully they would help with the pain. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome Stephanie. Now just let me get dressed and I will help you down to you home so you can get ready for the day. Bessy is waiting to help you,” Sportacus smiled and Stephanie nodded her head, she didn’t feel much like talking at the moment and she was terrified to go back to school after what had happened, she pulled her legs up and hugged her knees with her good arm, as she turned her head to the side she spotted the bear that Sportacus had brought for her the day before for being brave at the Emergency room and she felt a smile begin to spread across her face so she reached out and pulled it to her chest and already she began to feel better. “Right! Ready to go?” Sportacus asked as he jogged back into the room and Stephanie had to double take, the shock of what Sportacus was wearing finally registered in her brain.

“Sportacus? What are you wearing?” she asked as way of reply to what had previously been asked and Sportacus froze in confusion before he looked down at himself and he started to chuckle. He was in-fact wearing a pair of pale blue track pants, different from his usual style of his hero suit, a white polo shirt and his hero vest with his Crystal safe in the casing, even the hat was gone letting the blonde curls cascade down his his head and around his face. Sportacus had told the children the truth about his heritage months ago so the slight point to his ears didn’t surprise Stephanie at all but she was glad to have had a heads up.

“Oh this? I’m staying with you today! I’m going to be your class aid,” Sportacus replied with a grin and Stephanie frowned in response.

“But what if someone needs you?” she asked.

“I still have my Crystal with me, it will tell me if someone needs my help. But right now you are the most important,” Sportacus replied as he knelt in-front of Stephanie to look her in the eye and Stephanie felt the tears in her eyes again, but she managed to fight them off as Sportacus drew her into his arms once more and once in his arms Stephanie breathed in his scent of crisp apple, fresh air and something unique to Sportacus himself which reminded Stephanie of a sweeter honeysuckle. Stephanie was beginning to associate the smell with feeling safe along with the burnt sugar, whipped cream and engine oil that made up Robbie’s scent, had she looked more into it she may have realized that it wasn’t just a feeling of safety that the two scents brought.

Stephanie winced as Miss Busybody helped her out of her gym clothes and tie a trash bag around her arm to keep her cast dry. Once satisfied that the cast wouldn’t get wet Miss Busybody left the bathroom to allow Stephanie to shower in piece which the nine year old gladly did so as she felt disgusting, she winced slightly as the soap and water stung the cuts on her knee and hand but worked past the slight pain to ensure she was clean for the day. Once done she dried off the best she could and managed to pull on her undergarments, but as she looked at the leggings and dress folded on the counter she realized that she didn’t want to wear them today so pulled on her Uncle’s bathrobe that hung in the bathroom and made her way across the hall to her own bedroom where she pulled open the draws of her dresser. Finally she had managed to pull on a pair of pink sweatpants with some difficulty but she soon realized that she couldn’t finish getting dressed without help. “Miss Busybody?” Stephanie called and soon there was a knock on the door but it wasn’t Miss Busybody who answered.

“Stephanie? Are you OK?” Sportacus asked and Stephanie felt herself blush at the thought of what she was about to ask.

“Er. . . I need help to get dressed,” she replied and she heard Sportacus falter slightly.

“Do you mind if I come in? Bessy has left for the school already,” Sportacus replied and Stephanie could hear how unsure he was.

“Yes please,” Stephanie replied and the door was pushed open to allow Sportacus in, he tried to hid the shock on his face at the sight of pants on Stephanie instead of her usual leggings but chose not to question it. “I though these would be easier then my dress,” Stephanie said sadly and Sportacus nodded as he made his way forward and grabbed the pink ballerina short sleeve tee that Stephanie had chosen which he gently pulled her arm through before he pulled it over her head and Stephanie pushed her arm through the other whole. Once that was done Sportacus helped her with her sling and then pulled on the pink and blue striped socks Stephanie had chosen which made him smile slightly. “Can you help me with my hair?” she asked and Sportacus smiled as he took a seat beside her on the bed and began to gently brush her hair until it was no longer tangled before he placed her usual Alice Band in her hair. “Thank you Sportacus,” Stephanie smiled and Sportacus smiled as well as he pulled her into a sideways hug.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he smiled before he helped her on with her blazer and buttoned it up to keep it on as she couldn’t put on arm into the sleeve due to her cast being to bulky. Then once Stephanie had her pink and white sneakers on Sportacus placed the girls satchel onto his shoulder and took her hand in his. “Ready?” he asked as they stood in the front garden and Stephanie swallowed before she nodded her head and she felt the comfort of the soft squeeze Sportacus gave her hand.

As the school building came into view Stephanie felt her stomach tighten into knots and her hand tightened around Sportacus’s own, but she continued on forward. They could hear the children screaming and playing in the playground and Stephanie could hear her friends but it did not fill her with joy like it normally would. That was until Ziggy caught sight of her. “Stephanie!” he shouted as he ran towards her and he would have jumped on her had Sportacus not held out a hand to stop him in time his Crystal flashing slightly.

“Whoa Ziggy. You must be more careful! Stephanie has a broken wrist,” Sportacus said and Ziggy deflated slightly.

“Sorry. Are you OK Stephanie?” Ziggy asked and Stephanie smiled before she let go of Sportacus’s hand and lent down to give Ziggy a hug which the boy gladly recuperated if with slight less enthusiasm then usual so as not to hurt Stephanie.

“I’m OK Ziggy. I’m going to have a cast for at least six weeks and I wont be able to do as many sports as normal as I have to be careful and I can’t write because it’s my right wrist that’s broken. But I’ll be back to normal soon,” Stephanie replied.

“Oh,” Ziggy said sadly, after all Stephanie was often the only one that actually included Ziggy in the sport games that the children played as the other children often became frustrated with Ziggy easily as he was a few years younger then them and often struggled to grasp the concept of the games as easily.

“Don’t worry Ziggy. I’m going to be helping Stephanie until she’s all healed up,” Sportacus said with a smile that seemed to light Ziggy up and the boy grinned.

“Really? Wow that’s so cool!” Ziggy cried as he bounced in place, his enthusiasm contagious as it made Stephanie laugh, which int turn made Sportacus smile. Soon Stephanie was surrounded by her friends, Sportacus was the first to notice how they all stood around Stephanie as if they were protecting her from everyone and he couldn’t help but smile. But soon the bell rang and the other children hurried inside, but Stephanie stiffened up in fear.

“It’s going to be OK Stephanie,” Sportacus soothed and he took the girls hand into his own once again and Stephanie turned her head to look at him before she nodded and together the two walked to the classroom where Robbie was still in his teaching diguise. Stephanie looked confused as she walked into the room to find everyone lined up at the front of the classroom and not in their seats like they normally would be.

“Ah good morning Mr Sportacus, the Mayor informed me this morning that you would be here to aid Stephanie while she heels from her injuries. Good morning Stephanie and how are you feeling?” Professor Glæpur asked with a smile which made Stephanie relax slightly.

“I’m OK thank you Professor Glæpur,” Stephanie replied.

“Excellent. Well I have decided that we are going to have a seating plan in this classroom. So when ever you are in class those are the seats you are to sit in and who ever you are next to is the person you will be paired with during a fire drill is that clear?” Professor Glæpur asked and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Excellent,” Professor Glæpur grinned and Stephanie could see Robbie shining through the disguise and it made her relax further and made her feel safe. “So we shall start at the back of the room. So Stingy I would like you to sit on the left please. Penny I would like you in the middle and Pixel I would like you on the right,” Professor Glæpur instructed and the three students made their way over to their desks happily they took their seats. “Right Jives I would like you in-front of Stingy, Trixie in-front of Penny and Ziggy in-front of Pixel please,” he continued and the next three took their seats although Ziggy couldn’t help but pass a worried look at Stephanie as he did so. “Lillith I would like you in-front of Jives please and Stephanie in-front of Ziggy.”

Stephanie took her seat and made sure she was far enough over that Ziggy could still see the black board and Sportacus took his seat to Stephanie’s right where the middle desk would have been, although he sat on the floor so as not to be in the way of the other students. Not that he minded. Excellent. Now make sure you know who you are next to as we are going to have a fire drill today. So this morning we are going to practice lining up ready for the drill OK? So Lilith at the front please,” Professor Glæpur instructed and Lilith sauntered up to the front a smug look on her face, which dropped when she realized that it wasn’t going to be Stephanie behind her. “Ziggy you next please, then Stephanie, then Trixie, then Jives, then Pixel, then Penny and finally Stingy to bring up the rear. This is the most important position as you are in charge of ensuring that everyone stays together and no one gets lost. Well done kids now remember this order OK? If we all stay together and stay safe then none of us will get left behind if there ever was a fire OK?” Professor Glæpur asked to a chorus of agreements.

After a few times of getting the children to line up the lessons began. The first lesson was music so Professor paired all of the children up, they were going to create their own song and it was going to be a term project so each music lesson they would work on their song and then at the end of the school year they would perform it in-front of everyone at the end of term assembly. Stephanie was overjoyed when she was paired with Trixie, the girl was her best friend after all. Pixel was paired with Ziggy as Professor Glæpur thought it would help their confidence to work together and Stephanie had to agree. Jives and Penny were paired together which left Stingy with Lilith and Stephanie had to wince at the thought but if anyone could cope with Lilith, Stingy was probably the best choice. “What should our song be about?” Trixie asked as she took a seat at Stephanie’s desk while Sportacus did some sit ups on the floor beside the desk as he wasn’t needed for this task as Trixie could write down the ideas they had.

“What about a song about school?” Stephanie asked and Trixie lit up at the thought and nodded her head in agreement.

“I like that idea. What genre of music should it be though? We both have different tastes in music this could make it rather hard,” Trixie said with a frown.

“How about a bit of both? It could be a bit of a rock song but have calmer parts to it as well?” Stephanie suggested.

“Oh yes I like that idea! Maybe we could write a song about Professor Glæpur? he’s the best teacher we’ve had and he’s so cool! He makes learning fun!” Trixie enthused and Stephanie grinned but nodded in agreement and Sportacus felt himself smirk and the very idea of them writing a song about Robbie, but he knew Robbie would like it.

By the end of the lesson the two girls had decided on the title of the song and some words, but hadn’t figured out the song yet as they wanted to get the music part sorted first and they knew they could record it onto Trixie’s mix tape. It made them both rather excited which made Sportacus smile. “Right kids now it’s time for some spelling! I’m going to give you a word that you should know and some you wont and I want you to try your best to spell them and then at the end we will go through the words and we will talk about the meaning of the words OK?” Professor Glæpur said and the kids nodded their agreement once again, although Ziggy looked terrified at the prospect as he wasn’t the best speller as he was the youngest of the group but Stephanie held out hope that Robbie would go easy on the boy.

“OK Stephanie I want you to point to each letter in the order you think the word is spelled OK?” Sportacus asked as he laid a piece of pink paper in-front of Stephanie with the letters of the alphabet written onto it as he knelt beside the desk with the work sheet in-front of him with a pencil at the ready.

“OK Sportacus,” Stephanie replied with a smile.

“OK silence now please. If I hear anyone talking or cheating then they will stay behind during recess to write each of the words ten times over on the board,” Robbie said and the children gasped before they focused on their paper in-front of them. “The first word is Bully,” Professor Glæpur intoned and Stephanie quickly pointed to the letters in the order she wanted Sportacus to write them. “Our next word is Friend,” Professor Glæpur announced next and this continued until the work sheets now included words such as:

  * Kind

  * Like

  * Blue

  * Jump

  * Run

  * Play

  * Sleep




“OK. Who can tell me how to spell Bully?” he asked and Pixel raised his hand.

“B. U. L. L. Y,” Pixel replied and Professor Glæpur wrote it down on the board before he placed a tick next to it.

“Well done Pixel. Now can you tell me what that word means?” Professor Glæpur asked.

“A bully is someone who seeks to harm someone else who is more vulnerable then them, to tease or harm them,” Pixel replied.

“Well done Pixel that’s right. A bully is a horrible person who strives to hurt someone either by physical means, verbal means or even through computers. This makes the person being bullied feel small and helpless. If you ever get bullied or see someone being bullied you must tell a teacher,” Professor Glæpur said as his gaze lingered on Lilith for a moment before he moved on. “Now. Trixie can you tell me how we spell the word friend?” Professor Glæpur asked and Trixie answered with confidence and even provided the meaning with no issues. This continued on until the end of the lesson. “Well done guys. Now I want you to write down the words you spelled wrong using the correct spelling and I want you to practice them at home until you are confident you can spell them correct,” Professor Glæpur intoned before he then sent the children on their way to recess.

Stephanie spent her recess keeping score as her friends played basketball which made her smile, although it was sad as she couldn’t play herself. Sportacus had even joined in and Stephanie didn’t begrudge him as the poor man had been sat still for as long as the kids had and it just wasn’t his nature to sit still. Stephanie was so focused on the game that she didn’t keep her eye on her surroundings until it was to late and a hand shot out of no where and clamped down over her mouth which muffled the scream that tried to escape. “Shut the fuck up!” the voice hissed into her ear and Stephanie’s eyes widened when she recognized that voice, it was Lilith. “Now listen to me you little slut! You are going to tell everyone that it was an accident what happened yesterday. You’re going to tell them that it was your fault. I got three weeks detention because of you and now you are going to fix it and if you don’t. . . well you aren’t going to like what comes your way,” Lilith hissed into Stephanie’s ear before she reached around and pinched Stephanie hard on the arm twisting the flesh she had trapped between her fingers which made Stephanie cry out into the hand across her mouth and tears to spring to her eyes. Then Lilith was gone which left Stephanie to let the tears fall down her cheeks in silence before she got up and ran inside, she needed to find Robbie. Luckily for her Robbie was still inside the classroom when she ran inside, although he had been dozing at his desk but he jumped up at the sight of Stephanie as she ran into the room.

“Stephanie? What happened?” Robbie asked as he pulled her into his arms as he stood up, but Stephanie couldn’t reply except for the sob that left her chest and Robbie just held her through it. “What happened?” Robbie asked again once Stephanie had calmed down.

“I was keeping score on the game when Lilith. . .” Stephanie never got the chance to finish her sentence as Lilith herself ran into the room and her eyes hardened at the sight of Stephanie before she yelled over her shoulder.

“Found her,” and everyone ran into the room in relief to find Stephanie safe at last and then the bell rang.

Stephanie was quite and it worried Sportacus, had something happened? Is that why she had run away?

But he never found the answer to his question as he continued to help her with her writing throughout the next two lessons and then lunch was upon them. Along with his Crystal lighting up. “Someones in trouble. I’ll be right back kids,” Sportacus said as he flipped out of the school and Stephanie found herself alone as she walked towards her friends in the playground, only for someone to grab the back of her blazer and drag her to the floor where she landed painfully on her elbow which jarred her broken wrist and made her cry out.

“You fucking bitch! Trying to rat on me! I told you if you ever told anyone you would pay,” Lilith snarled into her face and before Stephanie could react Lilith punched her which sent her reeling to the ground once again and before she could get up she felt Lilith’s weight land on-top of her which crushed her broken wrist between Stephanie’s own body and the playground below her. Stephanie felt Lilith grab her hair and suddenly Stephanie felt her head hit the concrete which made her cry out again, but before it could happen again Lilith was wrenched off of her and Stephanie found herself curled up in Robbie’s arms the shouts of “Robbie Rotten!” dull in her ears from where Robbie’s beard had fallen off. Lilith was being restrained by Sportacus, who Stephanie had never seen look so angry in her life and it scared her slightly, but she didn’t have much chance to think on it as the world around her dimmed into black.


	5. Family?

Stephanie slowly came into awareness she could hear beeping close by, it was a sound she recognized and it always instilled terror into her. She frowned when them beeping seemed to pick up which indicated that whoever was attached to the heart monitor was in distress, it didn’t take a genius for Stephanie to realize that the monitor was attached to her. But her eyes felt to heavy for her to open and her body felt it was made of steel it was so heavy. Slowly feeling began to return to her body and she became aware of a hand holding hers and the feel of another hand placed on her ankle, she strained her ears to see if any sounds nearby could help her to identify who the hands belonged to but she could hear nothing except the sound of the heart monitor. She breathed in deeply through her nose and it was assaulted with the scents of apples, fresh air, burnt sugar and cake. She felt her body relax, she knew those smells the smells of home.

Stephanie blinked her eyes open, the room was dark the only light came from the hallway which lit the room enough to see clearly but not enough to blind the ten year old. There was a curtain drawn in-front of her so she couldn’t see much more beyond the small space she was in she looked over to her left side to find Sportacus fast asleep in another bed beside her, he was turned onto his side to face her with one arm tucked under his head and his knees drawn up to his chest. He was wearing a white wife beater shirt and a pair of blue lounge pants with his hat on his head. Stephanie smiled before she turned her gaze to her right and found Robbie fast asleep in his orange recliner at her feet which made her eyes widen in surprise until she remembered that Robbie was magic and a smile spread across her features instead. Robbie was curled up on his side and snoring gently his head on his orange cushion and his orange throw blanket was over him, but it had fallen to his waist which revealed the blue and purple pin stripe silk pajamas that Robbie wore, he was even wearing his sleep cap which made Stephanie giggle slightly.

The sound had drawn some attention apparently as the curtain opened slightly to reveal Doctor Feelsgood and his eyes widened at the sight of her awake. “You’re awake!” he whispered before he rushed over to her side to check her vitals and ask her some questions. “How are you feeling Stephanie?” he asked.

“Tired. Confused,” Stephanie replied in a low voice to prevent waking the two men who had become such a big part of her life.

“I’m not surprised it was quite a blow your head took. You had to have stitches one the right side of your forehead and your elbow was fractured when you fell. We had to recast your arm to keep your elbow supported, luckily the fall didn’t damage your wrist further. You were unconscious when you arrived here and completely unresponsive. These two had to be sedated to calm them down,” Doctor Feelsgood explained as she pointed to Robbie and Sportacus. “Do you remember what happened?” the Doctor asked and Stephanie thought for a moment before she remembered what had happened and the tears welled in her eyes at the thought.

“L-L-Lilith pulled me over. She called me names and grabbed my hair, she hit my head into the floor. Sportacus dragged her off of me and Robbie held me in his arms, that’s all I remember,” Stephanie replied as a sob caught in her throat and Doctor Feelsgood nodded.

“That’s what your friends told me. OK Stephanie, it’s OK she can’t get you here. Even if she could I have no doubt in my mind that these two wouldn’t let her. They haven’t left your side since you arrived, except for when we had to run tests on you and even that was hard. It took three security guards to restrain Sportacus and the threat that he would have to leave was the only thing that calmed him down,” Doctor Feelsgood said as he looked over at Sportacus, who was frowning in his sleep his mustache twitching every so often.

“What time is it?” Stephanie asked as she turned back to the Doctor.

“It’s six in the morning. . . on Saturday,” Doctor Feelsgood replied and Stephanie felt her eyes widen in shock, the incident had happened on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s been that long?” she asked and turned her gaze back to Sportacus again, the unasked question hung clearly in the air.

“Neither of them have left your side,” Doctor Feelsgood replied.

“But what about LazyTown? He must have been needed there,” Stephanie asked with a frown.

“I heard the Mayor saying something about a number 9 coming to help,” Doctor Feelsgood replied and Stephanie's eyes widened again, Sportacus had called for help so that he could stay with her until she woke up and she felt her eyes fill with tears once more and slowly pulled her hand out from under Sportacus’s. The elf frowned and moved his hand around as if searching for hers which she laid on his cheek until he blinked himself awake. As soon as his eyes were open he shot up into a sitting position and his head whipped around to look over at Stephanie and the bright blue eyes widened when he realized Stephanie was awake.

“Stephanie! You’re awake!” he cried, which woke Robbie who snorted himself awake and sat up wide eyed until his gaze fell on Stephanie who was being gently squeezed in Sportacus’s arms.

“She’s awake?” he asked, his brain slow to engage what was happening due to the lack of coffee and the early hour.

“She sure is,” Sportacus replied and stepped back to allow Robbie to pull Stephanie into his own hug which made the girl smile.

“When can I go home?” Stephanie asked later that afternoon once visiting hours had ended and her friends had gone home with the Mayor and Miss Busybody.

“They want to keep you in for one more night just to keep an eye on you. So hopefully tomorrow,” Sportacus replied as he sat on the edge of the bed, Robbie had gone to the town center to get some food as he refused to eat hospital food, not that Stephanie or Sportacus blamed him.

“Sportacus? What happened to Lilith?” Stephanie asked from where she was tucked into his chest his arm around her shoulders holding her close. Sportacus didn’t answer for a little while and Stephanie wondered if he ever would when at last he spoke.

“When I grabbed her off of you I was furious, the only thing that kept me from harming her was the fact that she was still just a child. The Mayor had heard the commotion and had called for an ambulance and then called the police. Officer Obtuse arrived just as the ambulance did and took Lilith away. She’s in LazyTown jail cells at the moment awaiting trial at BusyTown court house,” Sportacus replied.

“Oh,” Stephanie replied, she didn’t know what to feel other then relief. She was free for now.

“Even if she gets off, which is unlikely the Mayor wont let her family back into LazyTown. Not after everything that’s happened. Lilith’s father tried to attack me on my way to the airship to fly myself, Robbie and your friends to the hospital. Some of the patrol officers walked around the corner just as he threw a punch at me. He’s been arrested as well,” Sportacus added as he started to run his fingers through Stephanie’s slightly greasy hair. “You need a bath,” he commented offhandedly and Stephanie nodded in agreement. “Do you want me to ask the nurses if you can have one?” he asked.

“Please,” Stephanie nodded. Sportacus reached over and pressed the call button and a kindly older nurse walked over to the bed.

“Stephanie is wondering if she could have a bath?” Sportacus asked.

“Of course she can. I will get one ready for you and then come back and help you,” the nurse replied with a kind smile but Stephanie shook at the thought of a stranger helping her in the bath. Sportacus felt Stephanie tremble beside her and looked down at her with a furrowed brow.

“What’s wrong Stephanie?” he asked.

“Can’t you help me?” she asked looking up at Sportacus with fearful eyes and Sportacus’s eyes widened at the request.

“Stephanie it would be better for the nurse to help you. But I will sit in the room if it makes you feel better. How about that?” Sportacus asked and Stephanie nodded her head, although the trembling had not stopped.

“When will Robbie be back?” Stephanie asked as a way to distract herself.

“Soon probably. He did say he was only going out for food,” Sportacus replied as he looked at his watch in his arm bracer.

“Did someone say food?” Robbie asked as he ducked around the curtain with a smile which made Sportacus and Stephanie both smile at the sight. “I come baring food for our Dancing Queen,” Robbie grinned as he passed Stephanie a chicken burger with fries, carrot sticks and an apple with a carton of milk. He then passed Sportacus a veggie burger along with carrot sticks, an apple, a banana and a bottle of water. While Robbie himself had a double cheese burger with extra cheese and pickles along with fries and a bottle of fizzy pop. Sportacus pointedly chose not to comment on Robbie’s food choice as the three began eating in silence only broken by the nurse as she left the connecting bathroom with a smile.

“You bath is ready deary,” she smiled as Stephanie stiffened up in panic as she suddenly realized she didn’t actually have anything to bathe with.

“Oh that reminds me! I had a feeling you would want to clean up at some point so I stopped by at the local store and grabbed you these,” Robbie said as he passed one of the plastic bags over to Stephanie who looked inside to find a pink bath towel with matching wash cloth, a pair of pink button up pajamas and a pair of fuzzy pink socks with some strawberry scented liquid soap and some shampoo to wash her hair.

“Oh thank you Robbie!” Stephanie smiled.

“No probs kid,” Robbie replied as he returned to his food and the nurse led Stephanie to the bathroom with Sportacus behind them. The Sports elf turned his back as the nurse helped Stephanie undress and only turned around once Stephanie was sat in the bath. He took a seat on the closed toilet lid and chatted with Stephanie while the nurse helped the nine year old wash herself and then gently washed her hair while keeping her stitches from getting wet. Soon Stephanie felt much more like herself, except for the fact that she had a headache and her arm itched under her cast. Sportacus once again turned his back as the nurse dried and helped Stephanie get dressed into the new pajamas that Robbie had brought her along with the socks, which had sticky pads on the bottom to prevent Stephanie from sliding all over the place. Soon the nine year old was tucked back up in the hospital bed and the three were playing some games of cards to keep them entertained. Stephanie couldn’t help but smile at the two men who had made themselves at home with the girl and she couldn’t help but liken them to her father, when he had been alive. A life from long before Stephanie had moved to LazyTown and it shocked Stephanie slightly, but she realized that these two men who had been her friends had become her fathers and she couldn’t be happier.


End file.
